Flavorful Dinner Ideas for Summer 2026

Cast iron drops in temperature after each burger. Steel does not. That's why I created it I originate from a steel family and I understood the material might exceed cast iron for high-heat cooking. Yes. Position your Baking Steel Original straight on your grill grates, preheat for 15-20 minutes on high, and smash your hamburgers right on the steel.

I do this all summer. Cook smashburgers at on a preheated frying pan or steel. This high heat is crucial for creating the Maillard response, which gives smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep flavor. Get it ripping hot. You wish to hear that sizzle the second the beef hits the steel.

Flip, add cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and finish cooking. That's what makes it so great. The 20% fat content is essential for creating a juicy hamburger and crispy edges.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Leaner beef will lead to a drier, less delicious hamburger. Stick to 80/20. Crispy edges originate from three things: (500-550F) Get your frying pan ripping hot. The fat renders and french fries the edges. Optimize contact with the griddle. Heat, fat, and surface area contact. Master those three things and you'll get best crispy edges whenever.

The technique requires direct, high heat from a griddle to produce the signature crust. You can bake burgers in the oven, but they won't be smashburgers. They'll simply be ... baked hamburgers. is the classic option it melts perfectly and has a velvety texture. Cheddar, Swiss, and provolone are also terrific if you want to blend it up.

The Complete Guide to Flat-Top Grilling Mastery

This takes full advantage of area for browning and develops the signature crispy edges. Do not be shy. Actually smash it. That's where the magic takes place. Season on the frying pan. Don't season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. Definitely. I use mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

As soon as you understand how steel holds and moves heat, you begin using it for whatever. I did Andris Lagsdin. I created the Baking Steel in 2012 after checking out that steel carries out heat much better than stone. My family has run Stoughton Steel Company in Hanover, MA since the 1960s, so I grabbed a slab from my daddy's store, tested it, and the rest is history.

It stores more heat, recovers faster, and offers you a constant crust from the very first burger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work fast, and make some bad ass hamburgers.

What began as a Kickstarter project (improved by an early recommendation from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Consumes) has actually grown into the go-to tool for numerous thousands of home cooks. His fascination with high-heat cooking goes method beyond pizza. After years of testing smashburgers on cast iron, stainless-steel, and every griddle on the market, he developed the Skinny Griddle and Mini Griddle specifically for stovetop cooking engineered to hold heat the way only steel can.

The Skinny Frying pan is his go-to tool for smashburgers in the house. He's the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jesse Olson Moore and teaches high-heat cooking through his complimentary online classes and recipes.

How to Prepare a Gourmet Flat-Top Burger

It's a simple meal, and it takes just a couple of minutes to prepare and a couple of minutes to cook your delicious griddle burgers. Choose your hamburger patty, choose your cheese, and choose your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat griddle is a great way to get all the flavor you can out of both your burger patty and your cooking surface.

These flat, smooth cooking surfaces can take a great deal of heat, and they can provide your hamburger the best sear, and a well rounded, even cook. We enjoy griddles due to the fact that they are so flexible, and while generally they are used on stovetops, we regularly cook hamburgers on a frying pan in the oven, or even over an open campfire.

If you're utilizing your frying pan on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the campfire, there are a few universal guidelines to follow when you're cooking hamburgers: If you have cast iron griddles, they are going to require a layer of flavoring to protect the surface area. This makes it non-stick, and likewise protects it from rust.